“Graphic designer” doesn’t typically conjure up visions of a person who modeled for Dolce & Gabbana, Levi’s and Playboy—not to mention was personally fitted by Gianni Versace—or starred in Target and IKEA commercials. But that’s the sort of artistic acumen Howard Nourmand brings as founder/creative director of L.A.-based production company, Grand Jeté (grahn zhuh-tay). His latest undertaking, designing the title sequence for Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, is out this week. Flaunt chatted with Howard about the film, his experimental techniques depicting the history of the economic bubble (he used a lot of tulips), doing Cannes, and why working around the clock for six months with Oliver was the best thing that ever happend to him.
Grand Jete Banks on Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
05 October 2010
dexigner.com
Creative Studio Grand Jete explored money iconography at the micro level in a painterly and hauntingly beautiful closing title sequence for director Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” the sequel to the 1987 classic “Wall Street.”
For at least its first half, Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” — the sequel to his 1987 original — may be the cinema’s best dramatization of the 2008 financial meltdown. With its rapidly cut split-screens and downward spiraling electronic numbers reflecting on the panicked face of its protagonist Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf), the film captures the fast, frenzied terror of computer-driven economic freefall like nothing else on recent screens.
Film fans won’t encounter many better-spent 40 minutes than this tribute to actor John Cazale, “The Godfather” co-star who appeared in a mere five films — all of them, astonishingly, nominated for best picture — before dying at the age of 42, prior to the 1978 release of his final movie, “The Deer Hunter.” Both touching and an informative look at the actor’s craft, director Richard Shepard’s documentary talks to a who’s-who of Cazale’s contemporaries as well as younger actors who revere him. Before it’s done, he’ll break your heart all over again.
SG: Ever do a self-portrait? Where is it now? HN: I set a world record with my first official self-portrait. It was a photograph of me in a nice pair of Speedos (keep’n it real), over 300 feet tall, installed in an empty indoor Olympic sized swimming pool. Using scotch tape I stitched over 4,000 (8X10) sheets of paper together to assemble one enormous image. The printing process alone took two desktop printers running 24 hours a day over two weeks. . .
What do Rorschach ink blots, a troubled youth, and the title sequence for the film “The Dog Problem” all have in common? Well they all make up key points in the life of designer Howard Nourmand.
Howard Nourmand grew up in Hollywood, so it’s perhaps not completely surprising that he had therapy at an early age. “I went to a private school, and in those days they didn’t have counselors on staff,” he says. “But I was causing so much trouble that they hired a therapist just to see me. We sat down, and the therapist pulled out this card with an inkblot — it was a Rorschach test, of course — and asked me what I saw. Well, I immediately thought, ‘I’m going to milk this for all it’s worth.’ And I told her all this dark stuff: ‘I see devils!’ ‘I see dogs attacking people!’” Was this the typical acting out of an angst-ridden teen? Hardly. Confesses Nourmand: “I was in the third grade.” Twenty-odd years after his sinister elementary school period, Nourmand is again reinterpreting that classic analytic tool. Only now he’s made it the visual centerpiece of his latest design project: the very inventive title sequence for the film “The Dog Problem,” conceived and created on his Mac.
Howard Nourmand’s design for the opening title sequence to Scott Caan’s “The Dog Problem” features the inkblot intricacies of love. The tunneling lips and abstractions are propelled by the music of Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo).
Title designer Howard Nourmand: “This title sequence came from a long term working relationship with writer, director, actor, photographer, extraordinaire Scott Caan. I read the script when it was just a draft and loved it. Initially Scott kinda felt the titles should be simple and play at the end of the film over some really nice live action he had shot. I realized that if I wanted to persuade Scott to do a sequence at the beginning of the film I would have to sell him on a concept that really really juiced him.”
The 26-year-old actor Scott Caan likely grew up watching films his father James made during the late-1960s/early-1970s, and the influence shows in his debut as writer-director, “Dallas 362.” Set and shot, like last year’s “Spun” and “The Salton Sea,” in grimy flophouses and back alleys of Los Angeles, Caan’s picture refreshingly refrains from borrowing from those films’ stylistic handbook. Rather, it has a relaxed poeticism to it; it’s a sweetly naive, adolescent Hemingway fantasy with a star-making performance by Shawn Hatosy and good ones from everyone else (including Caan). The recipient of the critics’ jury prize at Cinevegas, this low-key but accomplished pic definitely has a future as a festival item and a specialized theatrical release.
Having written and directed a few theatrical productions, there’s a bit of staginess to some of the scenes which is easily overcome by the performances and the written word. But flashes like the dazzling opening credit sequence and the staging of a heist to the tune of Giorgio Moroder’s Midnight Express score show off both a patience and a flair that hotshot newcomers can tear a page out of.
Some of the most striking and stylish opening titles you ’ll see all year confirm the positive impression, and from here on in, the audience is happy to give Caan the director the benefit of the doubt – even if Caan the writer seems less of the finished article.
Caan’s directorial debut is eager to please, with flashy montage sequences, lots of colourful character bits (Van Lauren stands out as a Jew called Christian), black humour and a punk/blues score from the likes of Soledad Brothers and White Stripes
Caan’s directorial decisions fare better than his writing, and, if anything, The Dog Problem does benefit from choice music selection, good cinematography, editing, and a kick-ass opening credits sequence by Howard Nourmand that produces the characters of the film emanating out of Rorschach inkblots.
WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS, IN GRAPHICS.
“Graphic designer” doesn’t typically conjure up visions of a person who modeled for Dolce & Gabbana, Levi’s and Playboy—not to mention was personally fitted by Gianni Versace—or starred in Target and IKEA commercials. But that’s the sort of artistic acumen Howard Nourmand brings as founder/creative director of L.A.-based production company, Grand Jeté (grahn zhuh-tay). His latest undertaking, designing the title sequence for Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, is out this week. Flaunt chatted with Howard about the film, his experimental techniques depicting the history of the economic bubble (he used a lot of tulips), doing Cannes, and why working around the clock for six months with Oliver was the best thing that ever happend to him.
Preview article at www.flaunt.com
Grand Jete Banks on Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Creative Studio Grand Jete explored money iconography at the micro level in a painterly and hauntingly beautiful closing title sequence for director Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” the sequel to the 1987 classic “Wall Street.”
View complete article at www.dexigner.com
Cannes Review: “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.”
For at least its first half, Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” — the sequel to his 1987 original — may be the cinema’s best dramatization of the 2008 financial meltdown. With its rapidly cut split-screens and downward spiraling electronic numbers reflecting on the panicked face of its protagonist Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf), the film captures the fast, frenzied terror of computer-driven economic freefall like nothing else on recent screens.
View complete article at www.ifc.com
I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale
Film fans won’t encounter many better-spent 40 minutes than this tribute to actor John Cazale, “The Godfather” co-star who appeared in a mere five films — all of them, astonishingly, nominated for best picture — before dying at the age of 42, prior to the 1978 release of his final movie, “The Deer Hunter.” Both touching and an informative look at the actor’s craft, director Richard Shepard’s documentary talks to a who’s-who of Cazale’s contemporaries as well as younger actors who revere him. Before it’s done, he’ll break your heart all over again.
View complete article at www.variety.com
Grand Jeté [Howard Nourmand]
SG: Ever do a self-portrait? Where is it now? HN: I set a world record with my first official self-portrait. It was a photograph of me in a nice pair of Speedos (keep’n it real), over 300 feet tall, installed in an empty indoor Olympic sized swimming pool. Using scotch tape I stitched over 4,000 (8X10) sheets of paper together to assemble one enormous image. The printing process alone took two desktop printers running 24 hours a day over two weeks. . .
View complete article at www.sprayblog.net
Grand Jeté [Howard Nourmand]
What do Rorschach ink blots, a troubled youth, and the title sequence for the film “The Dog Problem” all have in common? Well they all make up key points in the life of designer Howard Nourmand.
View complete article at www.designmadison.com
Howard Nourmand: Analyze This
Howard Nourmand grew up in Hollywood, so it’s perhaps not completely surprising that he had therapy at an early age. “I went to a private school, and in those days they didn’t have counselors on staff,” he says. “But I was causing so much trouble that they hired a therapist just to see me. We sat down, and the therapist pulled out this card with an inkblot — it was a Rorschach test, of course — and asked me what I saw. Well, I immediately thought, ‘I’m going to milk this for all it’s worth.’ And I told her all this dark stuff: ‘I see devils!’ ‘I see dogs attacking people!’” Was this the typical acting out of an angst-ridden teen? Hardly. Confesses Nourmand: “I was in the third grade.” Twenty-odd years after his sinister elementary school period, Nourmand is again reinterpreting that classic analytic tool. Only now he’s made it the visual centerpiece of his latest design project: the very inventive title sequence for the film “The Dog Problem,” conceived and created on his Mac.
View complete article at www.apple.com
The Dog Problem (+ Howard Nourmand Interview)
Howard Nourmand’s design for the opening title sequence to Scott Caan’s “The Dog Problem” features the inkblot intricacies of love. The tunneling lips and abstractions are propelled by the music of Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo).
View complete article at www.watchthetitles.com
The Dog Problem
Title designer Howard Nourmand: “This title sequence came from a long term working relationship with writer, director, actor, photographer, extraordinaire Scott Caan. I read the script when it was just a draft and loved it. Initially Scott kinda felt the titles should be simple and play at the end of the film over some really nice live action he had shot. I realized that if I wanted to persuade Scott to do a sequence at the beginning of the film I would have to sell him on a concept that really really juiced him.”
Preview article at www.submarinechannel.com
Dallas 362
The 26-year-old actor Scott Caan likely grew up watching films his father James made during the late-1960s/early-1970s, and the influence shows in his debut as writer-director, “Dallas 362.” Set and shot, like last year’s “Spun” and “The Salton Sea,” in grimy flophouses and back alleys of Los Angeles, Caan’s picture refreshingly refrains from borrowing from those films’ stylistic handbook. Rather, it has a relaxed poeticism to it; it’s a sweetly naive, adolescent Hemingway fantasy with a star-making performance by Shawn Hatosy and good ones from everyone else (including Caan). The recipient of the critics’ jury prize at Cinevegas, this low-key but accomplished pic definitely has a future as a festival item and a specialized theatrical release.
View complete article at www.dailyvariety.com
Dallas 362
Having written and directed a few theatrical productions, there’s a bit of staginess to some of the scenes which is easily overcome by the performances and the written word. But flashes like the dazzling opening credit sequence and the staging of a heist to the tune of Giorgio Moroder’s Midnight Express score show off both a patience and a flair that hotshot newcomers can tear a page out of.
Preview article at www.efilmcritic.com
Neil Young’s Film Lounge – Dallas 362
Some of the most striking and stylish opening titles you ’ll see all year confirm the positive impression, and from here on in, the audience is happy to give Caan the director the benefit of the doubt – even if Caan the writer seems less of the finished article.
Preview article at www.neilyoungsfilmlounge.com
Dallas 362 (2003)
Caan’s directorial debut is eager to please, with flashy montage sequences, lots of colourful character bits (Van Lauren stands out as a Jew called Christian), black humour and a punk/blues score from the likes of Soledad Brothers and White Stripes
Preview article at www.timeoutny.com
The Dog Problem (2006) / Comedy
Caan’s directorial decisions fare better than his writing, and, if anything, The Dog Problem does benefit from choice music selection, good cinematography, editing, and a kick-ass opening credits sequence by Howard Nourmand that produces the characters of the film emanating out of Rorschach inkblots.
Preview article at www.timeoutny.com